George Szell

George Szell PDF Author: Michael Charry
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252093100
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 466

Get Book

Book Description
This book is the first full biography of George Szell, one of the greatest orchestra and opera conductors of the twentieth century. From child prodigy pianist and composer to world-renowned conductor, Szell's career spanned seven decades, and he led most of the great orchestras and opera companies of the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the NBC and Chicago Symphonies, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and Opera, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. A protégé of composer-conductor Richard Strauss at the Berlin State Opera, his crowning achievement was his twenty-four-year tenure as musical director of the Cleveland Orchestra, transforming it into one of the world's greatest ensembles, touring triumphantly in the United States, Europe, the Soviet Union, South Korea, and Japan. Michael Charry, a conductor who worked with Szell and interviewed him, his family, and his associates over several decades, draws on this first-hand material and correspondence, orchestra records, reviews, and other archival sources to construct a lively and balanced portrait of Szell's life and work from his birth in 1897 in Budapest to his death in 1970 in Cleveland. Readers will follow Szell from his career in Europe, Great Britain, and Australia to his guest conducting at the New York Philharmonic and his distinguished tenure at the Metropolitan Opera and Cleveland Orchestra. Charry details Szell's personal and musical qualities, his recordings and broadcast concerts, his approach to the great works of the orchestral repertoire, and his famous orchestrational changes and interpretation of the symphonies of Robert Schumann. The book also lists Szell's conducting repertoire and includes a comprehensive discography. In highlighting Szell's legacy as a teacher and mentor as well as his contributions to orchestral and opera history, this biography will be of lasting interest to concert-goers, music lovers, conductors, musicians inspired by Szell's many great performances, and new generations who will come to know those performances through Szell's recorded legacy.

George Szell

George Szell PDF Author: Michael Charry
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252093100
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 466

Get Book

Book Description
This book is the first full biography of George Szell, one of the greatest orchestra and opera conductors of the twentieth century. From child prodigy pianist and composer to world-renowned conductor, Szell's career spanned seven decades, and he led most of the great orchestras and opera companies of the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the NBC and Chicago Symphonies, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and Opera, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. A protégé of composer-conductor Richard Strauss at the Berlin State Opera, his crowning achievement was his twenty-four-year tenure as musical director of the Cleveland Orchestra, transforming it into one of the world's greatest ensembles, touring triumphantly in the United States, Europe, the Soviet Union, South Korea, and Japan. Michael Charry, a conductor who worked with Szell and interviewed him, his family, and his associates over several decades, draws on this first-hand material and correspondence, orchestra records, reviews, and other archival sources to construct a lively and balanced portrait of Szell's life and work from his birth in 1897 in Budapest to his death in 1970 in Cleveland. Readers will follow Szell from his career in Europe, Great Britain, and Australia to his guest conducting at the New York Philharmonic and his distinguished tenure at the Metropolitan Opera and Cleveland Orchestra. Charry details Szell's personal and musical qualities, his recordings and broadcast concerts, his approach to the great works of the orchestral repertoire, and his famous orchestrational changes and interpretation of the symphonies of Robert Schumann. The book also lists Szell's conducting repertoire and includes a comprehensive discography. In highlighting Szell's legacy as a teacher and mentor as well as his contributions to orchestral and opera history, this biography will be of lasting interest to concert-goers, music lovers, conductors, musicians inspired by Szell's many great performances, and new generations who will come to know those performances through Szell's recorded legacy.

Music for Life

Music for Life PDF Author: Fiona Maddocks
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 057132939X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 227

Get Book

Book Description
How does music reflect the key moments in our lives? How do we choose the works that inspire, delight, comfort or console? Fiona Maddocks selects 100 classical works from across nine centuries, arguing passionately, persuasively and at times obstinately for their inclusion, putting each work in its cultural and musical context, discussing omissions, suggesting alternatives and always putting the music first.

Mendelssohn

Mendelssohn PDF Author: R. Larry Todd
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195179889
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 737

Get Book

Book Description
A portrait of the distinguished composer, musician, and artist draws on his correspondence, diaries, and creative works to analyze his most distinctive achievements as well as his lesser-known pieces, exploring his religious heritage, role as a Jewish performer, and complex relationship with his sister. (Biography)

Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten PDF Author: Neil Powell
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0805097740
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 534

Get Book

Book Description
This centenary biography looks at the music, the life, and the legacy of the greatest British composer of the twentieth century, and his life partner, tenor Peter Pears.

The Music of Life

The Music of Life PDF Author: Louis Thomas
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ISBN: 125077733X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40

Get Book

Book Description
Full of joy and discovery, Louis Thomas' The Music of Life is a simple, melodious picture book about finding big inspiration and beauty in the smallest of details. At night when everyone else is asleep, one artist sits awake--pencil in hand, stuck. Lenny is a composer, but this evening, no music floats from his head. Then as night breaks into dawn, Lenny's cat, Pipo, begins lapping milk. Lick lick lick. Birds yawn awake, singing in the trees. Tweet tweet! A bike bell tings on the street below. Suddenly, Lenny notices a rhythm to the world around him. He pulls on his coat and walks through the city to write down every sound he can find. Lenny listens to a gardener, a jogger, a dogwalker, and more neighborhood characters. Finally, the morning's sounds culminate in a sun-dappled symphony that Lenny conducts in the center of the park.

My Life and Music

My Life and Music PDF Author: Artur Schnabel
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486255719
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Get Book

Book Description
"A clear picture of a musician of rare integrity." — The Musical Times. Highly readable reminiscences, musical philosophy of great pianist: his experiences as a child prodigy in turn-of-the-century Vienna, concert career, thoughts on great conductors and composers of the day, preferences in the repertoire, much more. Also includes "Reflections on Music," address delivered at University of Manchester, 1933. Introduction by Edward Crankshaw. 20 illustrations. Index.

The Life of Music

The Life of Music PDF Author: Nicholas Kenyon
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300260601
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 387

Get Book

Book Description
Nicholas Kenyon explores the enduring appeal of the classical canon at a moment when we can access all music—across time and cultures Immersed in music for much of his life as writer, broadcaster and concert presenter, former director of the BBC Proms, Nicholas Kenyon has long championed an astonishingly wide range of composers and performers. Now, as we think about culture in fresh ways, Kenyon revisits the stories that make up the classical tradition and foregrounds those which are too often overlooked. This inclusive, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic guide highlights the achievements of the women and men, amateurs and professionals, who bring music to life. Taking us from pianist Myra Hess’s performance in London during the Blitz, to John Adams’s composition of a piece for mourners after New York’s 9/11 attacks, to Italian opera singers singing from their balconies amidst the 2020 pandemic, Kenyon shows that no matter how great the crisis, music has the power to bring us together. His personal, celebratory account transforms our understanding of how classical music is made—and shows us why it is more relevant than ever.

Mozart

Mozart PDF Author: Jeremy Siepmann
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book

Book Description
Sourcebooks MediaFusion and Naxos proudly present the life and works of Mozart, complete with two audio CDs and an exclusive website. In this lively and accessible biography, Jeremy Siepmann reminds us of a remarkable natural talent who was, however, all too human. Read the text and listen to two CDs containing a carefully chosen cross-section of Mozart's music. Readers also gain access to an exclusive website that offers the musical works in full, the music of Mozart's father, a detailed timeline and more. This revolutionary biography utilizes traditional and new media to provide a uniquely rounded portrait of the composer himself. Naxos is the world's leading classical music label and provider of classical music over the Internet at www.naxos.com.

A Life in Music

A Life in Music PDF Author: Daniel Barenboim
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1611455375
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Get Book

Book Description
A Life in Music reviews five decades of the rich and uniquely varied musical life of Daniel Barenboim. A child prodigy as a pianist and a virtuoso conductor of symphonies and opera, he has known and worked with many of the most distinguished and exciting musicians of the 20th century, not least his own wife Jacqueline du Pré. With memories of music heard and performed, and thoughtful examinations of global influences and professional inspiration, A Life in Music offers a profound window to the mind of one of the twentieth century’s greatest musicians. In this definitive edition, Barenboim discusses his work in Bayreuth, where he has been the most important artistic influence on the annual Wagner Festival; his involvement with the rebirth of the Berlin State Opera House in post-wall Berlin, and as conductor of two great orchestras in Berlin and Chicago; his thoughts on the state of Israel and his work with young Israeli and Arab musicians in Germany; his worldwide travels, his discovery of young talent and his insights into the changing world of music.

Slowhand

Slowhand PDF Author: Philip Norman
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316560456
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Get Book

Book Description
From the bestselling author of Shout!, comes the definitive biography of Eric Clapton, a Rock legend whose life story is as remarkable as his music, which transformed the sound of a generation. For half a century Eric Clapton has been acknowledged to be one of music's greatest virtuosos, the unrivalled master of an indispensable tool, the solid-body electric guitar. His career has spanned the history of rock, and often shaped it via the seminal bands with whom he's played: the Yardbirds, John Mavall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominoes. Winner of 17 Grammys, the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's only three-time inductee, he is an enduring influence on every other star soloist who ever wielded a pick. Now, with Clapton's consent and access to family members and close friends, rock music's foremost biographer returns to the heroic age of British rock and follows Clapton through his distinctive and scandalous childhood, early life of reckless rock 'n' roll excess, and twisting & turning struggle with addiction in the 60s and 70s. Readers will learn about his relationship with Pattie Boyd--wife of Clapton's own best friend George Harrison--the tragic death of his son, which inspired one of his most famous songs, "Tears in Heaven," and even the backstories of his most famed, and named, guitars. Packed with new information and critical insights, Slowhand finally reveals the complex character behind a living legend.